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Tool 1: The One-Page Letter that Creates a Provable Evaluation Request

This complete tool is free to every family. It is 1 of 5 permanently free tools from The IEP Field Manual.

THE RULE

If you think a disability may be getting in the way of your child’s learning, you can ask the school district to evaluate your child. The evaluation is free. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) gives you that right directly: a parent may initiate a request for an initial evaluation (34 C.F.R. § 300.301(b)). You do not need a diagnosis first. You do not need a teacher to agree with you. You do not need the school’s permission to ask.

The initial evaluation is the front door to IDEA eligibility and an IEP. It is testing and observation, done by the district, to answer 2 questions: is your child a child with a disability, and what are your child’s educational needs (34 C.F.R. § 300.301(c)(2)). Schools may provide general-education interventions or Section 504 supports before, during, or without IDEA eligibility, so this step is not the only route to help.

The district owed you a look before you ever asked. Under a rule called child find, every state and its school districts must identify, locate, and evaluate all children with disabilities who need special education and related services (34 C.F.R. §§ 300.111(a), 300.201). The duty reaches children who are only suspected of having a disability. That is the whole point of it. Your letter is not a favor you are requesting. It is a reminder of a duty that already exists. Tool 5 covers child find in full.

Once your written request arrives, the district has 2 lawful answers. It can agree to evaluate - and then it must ask for your written consent before any testing starts (34 C.F.R. § 300.300(a)(1)). Or it can refuse - and then it must give you prior written notice, a document that states what it refused and explains why (34 C.F.R. § 300.503(a)(2), (b)(1)-(2)). “We’ll keep an eye on him” is not on the list.

One clock, and one common misunderstanding. Your letter starts the district’s duty to answer. It does not start the evaluation deadline. The federal 60-day clock for completing the evaluation starts on the day the district receives your signed consent - unless your state sets its own timeline, and many do (34 C.F.R. § 300.301(c)). The federal rules put no fixed number of days on the district’s answer to your letter itself. Many states do. That is why the template below asks for a written response by a date you choose.

WHY IT MATTERS

A phone call can begin the process where state law or local practice permits an oral referral. The problem is proof. The person who takes the call may write it down, or may not. Six months later, a dated letter is far easier to prove than a remembered conversation. Follow any call with a written request that states the date and what you asked for.

A dated letter is different. It exists whether anyone at the school acts on it or not. It forces the fork in the road: the district must either seek your consent or send a written refusal with its reasons (34 C.F.R. §§ 300.300(a)(1), 300.503(a)(2)). Either answer puts paper in your folder. Even silence becomes evidence, because now the silence has a start date.

Nearly every remedy a parent can later pursue - a state complaint, a due process case, compensatory services - is built on dates. The record starts with this letter. And behind the paperwork is the real cost: every month the request floats unwritten is a month your child struggles without anyone being obligated to find out why.

THE MOVE

• Write down what you have seen. 3 or 4 plain sentences: what is hard for your child, and since when. “Reading is 2 grade levels behind.” “Homework takes 3 hours and ends in tears.” These sentences go in the letter. Tool 3 turns this habit into a running log.

• Find the right addressee. Address the letter to the district’s director of special education - the name is on the district website, or one call to the front office gets it. Copy the principal.

• Fill in the template below. It is the short form of Letter 1 in Appendix A. Ask for an initial evaluation, name the areas you suspect, and ask for a written response by a date.

• Send it with proof. Email with read receipt, or hand-deliver and ask for a date stamp. Put a copy in your folder.

• Mark your calendar with the date you asked for an answer - 10 school days from sending. That date is the one you set, not a federal deadline. Your state may set a real one, and it may be shorter.

• When the consent packet arrives, go straight to Tool 7. Read it before you sign it. If it covers the areas you asked about, sign and return it quickly. The 60-day clock starts at the district’s receipt of your consent (34 C.F.R. § 300.301(c)). Every day the form sits on your counter, nothing counts.

• If a refusal arrives, or nothing arrives, a refusal must come as prior written notice (34 C.F.R. § 300.503). Tool 26 shows you how to read one. Tool 90 (state complaint) and Tool 92 (due process) are the ways to challenge it. If the answer is “let’s try interventions first,” that is Tool 2, the next tool in this book.

THE TEMPLATE

A longer version of this letter appears as Letter 1 in Appendix A. Use either one; do not send both.

Subject: Written Request for Initial Evaluation - [CHILD’S FULL NAME], [GRADE], [SCHOOL]

[DATE]

Dear [DIRECTOR OF SPECIAL EDUCATION]:

I am the parent of [CHILD’S FULL NAME], a [GRADE] student at [SCHOOL]. I am requesting an initial evaluation of my child for special education under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, 34 C.F.R. § 300.301(b), and the child find requirement, 34 C.F.R. § 300.111.

I suspect a disability may be affecting my child’s education. My concerns include: [2-4 PLAIN SENTENCES - FOR EXAMPLE: READING WELL BELOW GRADE LEVEL; HOMEWORK TAKES HOURS TO FINISH; TEACHER REPORTS TROUBLE FOCUSING IN CLASS].

I ask that the evaluation cover all areas of suspected disability, as required by 34 C.F.R. § 300.304(c)(4), and that it be sufficiently comprehensive to identify all of my child’s special education and related services needs, as required by 34 C.F.R. § 300.304(c)(6). The areas I am concerned about include [LIST AREAS - FOR EXAMPLE: READING, WRITTEN EXPRESSION, SPEECH AND LANGUAGE, ATTENTION, SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL STATUS].

Please send me the consent forms for the evaluation. If the district declines to evaluate, please provide prior written notice under 34 C.F.R. § 300.503 explaining that decision.

Please respond in writing by [DATE - 10 SCHOOL DAYS FROM SENDING].

Sincerely, [YOUR FULL NAME] [ADDRESS · PHONE · EMAIL]

This template is educational material, not legal advice. Adapt it to your state and your facts; it is a starting point.

Send by email with read receipt, or hand-deliver and ask for a date stamp. Keep a copy in your folder.

BEFORE YOU SEND - THE FIVE CHECKS ☐ Date at the top. The paper record starts here. ☐ Your child’s full name and school in the first line. ☐ Every [BRACKET] filled in - search the page for “[” before sending. ☐ Sent in writing, with proof: email read receipt, or hand-delivery with a date stamp. ☐ A copy in your folder, and the district’s response deadline on your calendar. This letter is educational material, not legal advice. Your state’s rules may differ - check your state regulations or your Parent Training and Information Center.

WHAT IT DOES - AND DOESN’T DO

It does create a dated record that the request was made, by whom, and for which concerns. It puts the district to a choice with legal consequences on both branches: seek your consent (34 C.F.R. § 300.300(a)(1)) or refuse in writing with reasons (34 C.F.R. § 300.503). And it puts your suspected areas on the record from day one, which matters later if the testing comes back narrow. The evaluation must cover all areas related to the suspected disability, and it must be comprehensive enough to find every special education and related services need - even needs that are not the ones usually linked to a child’s disability category (34 C.F.R. § 300.304(c)(4), (c)(6); Tool 9).

It does not start the 60-day evaluation clock. Only your signed consent does that (34 C.F.R. § 300.301(c)). When the consent form arrives, Tool 7 walks you through it line by line, and Tool 8 gives you the deadline math.

It does not force a yes. A district that does not suspect a disability may refuse to evaluate - but only with prior written notice stating its reasons (34 C.F.R. § 300.503(b)). If you disagree with a refusal, you may file a state complaint (34 C.F.R. §§ 300.151-300.153; Tool 90) or a due process complaint (34 C.F.R. § 300.507(a); Tool 92). A letter from your child’s pediatrician can also strengthen a renewed request - that is Tool 4.

It does not turn a diagnosis into eligibility, and neither does the evaluation. A doctor’s diagnosis is useful evidence, and it can be hard for a district to say it suspects nothing after reading one. But under the IDEA a child is eligible only if the child has one of the listed disabilities and, because of it, needs special education (34 C.F.R. § 300.8(a)(1)). A child who has a diagnosis but needs only a related service, and not special education, is not eligible under the IDEA (34 C.F.R. § 300.8(a)(2)(i)) - though Section 504 may still reach that child, which is Tool 12’s territory. The eligibility call belongs to a group of qualified professionals and you, together, after the evaluation (34 C.F.R. § 300.306(a)(1)).

It does not diagnose anything. The letter opens the process; the evaluation answers the questions.

Get counsel if the district refuses twice, or if your child is failing fast while the paper moves slowly. The dispute ladder in Tool 88 shows the rungs, in order, and where most parents stop.

STATE NOTE

States vary at 3 points. First, the response deadline: federal law sets no fixed number of days for answering your request, but many states do, and some are short. Second, the form of the request: some states treat only a written request, or a request on a state form, as a formal referral. A few states will accept a spoken referral - but even there, a letter is the only version of the request you can later prove you made. Third, the evaluation timeline itself, once the district receives your signed consent, varies widely from state to state - Tool 8 and the 50-State Companion carry the numbers. Check your state regulations and your Parent Training and Information Center (find yours at parentcenterhub.org).

This week: tonight, write the 3 sentences about what you have seen. Tomorrow, find the director’s name, fill in Letter 1, and send it with proof. Then mark 10 school days on your calendar. Total time, start to finish: under 1 hour.